Lip filler procedures are now immensely popular in the US with a massive 2.1 million being completed every year.
In fact, the popularity of the procedure has grown a whopping 312% since the year 2000.
If you’re heading to your local spa or clinic for lip filling, then you might be wondering whether you need to tip your practitioner.
Tipping is a bit of a grey area in the world of cosmetics and it varies vastly from state to state.
Tipping is so widespread across the US that it’s often difficult to keep up with when you should and shouldn’t be dipping into your purse.
To help you decide, we’ve looked at what the etiquette is within this industry, how much lip injector practitioners earn, and other key considerations such as the cost of lip injections.
Keep reading to find out more.
Do You Tip Lip Injector? The Short Answer
Tips will not usually be expected or accepted if your procedure is being done by a trained medic like a dermatologist, plastic surgeon, or medical esthetician. However, in some states, lip fillers can be done by non-medical estheticians and it’s ok to tip them.
Keep reading to see how much we’d suggest you tip.
Who Will and Won’t Accept Tips
As we’ve already touched on, it’s very unlikely that a trained medical doctor like a plastic surgeon or dermatologist will accept a monetary tip.
This is frowned upon within the medical industry and even banned by some ethics boards.
The idea is that a medic should be providing a high-quality service across the board in the interests of the patient and shouldn’t be driven by the prospect of receiving a tip.
In some states, lip injection procedures are reserved only for medical professionals so you generally won’t need to tip them.
However, in other states laws are more relaxed meaning that estheticians that haven’t been medically trained can perform the procedure under the supervision of a medical professional.
The key is to check with your clinic or spa before you go in for the procedure or after you’ve had it done.
What Do Estheticians Earn and Do They Need Tips?
If it turns out the person performing your procedure is a non-medical esthetican then you might be wondering whether their salary warrants a tip.
In some industries, tips are a common custom simply because the workers within that industry need to subsidize their poor income with gratuities to get by.
But what about estheticians?
According to Estheticanedu.org, estheticians earn on average $31,000 a year which is actually well below the US average yearly salary, which according to Zippia is $47,520 a year.
Therefore, if a worker’s salary is your deciding factor when it comes to tipping, it would seem that estheticians might need that little bit of extra income to help boost their fairly modest earnings.
Indeed this is what we discovered when we looked at whether to tip for micro-needling, CoolSculpting, and IPL treatments.
How Much Do Lip Fillers Cost?
Another key factor when looking at tipping is how much the cost will be.
According to DrTrenkle.com expect to pay between $500 – $1000 per procedure.
However, be sure to get whether a gratuity has been added to your price. This will usually appear on your receipt but we’d advise checking before the procedure to see whether one will be added after.
Most spas/clinics don’t add this but it’s always worth checking in case a tip is actually already included within the price.
Tipping twice is not conducive to a well-managed budget.
How Much To Tip for Lip Fillers and Injections?
If you want to tip your esthetician for a job well done then you can either apply the standard 10 – 20% of the total cost of the procedure or you can offer just a fixed amount.
On the above figures, 10 – 20% is going to set you back between $50 – $200 which is rather steep just for a tip, especially in circumstances where a tip isn’t usually required.
We’d suggest tipping a fixed amount of say $10 – $30 instead.
Alternatives to Tipping With Money
We think that in this industry, you’re probably better tipping in other ways that don’t involve cash.
This will generally mean that the person can usually accept the tip even if they’re medically trained, provided it’s not completely disproportionate like offering a diamond ring or sports car.
Here are some ideas:
- A Google review
- A tweet, social media share, or review on the clinic’s Facebook page
- A thank you card
- Chocolates or flowers
- A gift voucher
Even verbal praise is likely to be enough to bright up your esthetician or practitioner’s day.
When Should You Tip, Tip More, Tip Less, or Not At All?
We love rewarding exceptional service and the cosmetic industry is one where results are varied depending on the spa or clinic you choose.
We’d suggest tipping when you usually wouldn’t or tipping more if:
- The results surpass your expectations
- Your lips look as your expected and in accordance with your instructions
- If it’s the holidays
- If you’ve been offered a discount or have received a good deal on your procedure
Don’t tip if:
- Your procedure has been performed poorly or the results aren’t as expected
- If you’ve been injured
- If it’s a medical doctor performing your procedure (unless you tip in non-monetary ways)
- If the practitioner was rude or unprofessional
- If the spa or clinic bans tipping
- If a gratuity is included within the price
Final Thoughts
The cosmetics industry is one where reputation really does count and this means that the best thing you can usually do to show your gratitude after a lip fill is to tell others about your experience.
For this reason, we think that leaving a Google review or a review about your experience on social media is a great way to show your satisfaction with the spa or clinic rather than providing a monetary tip.
As above, if you do provide a monetary tip then this will usually only be accepted by non-medically trained estheticians who can actually only perform lip filling procedures in some states and usually under supervision.
If you do wish to tip your esthetician a monetary sum then $10 – $30 is ample.
However, the general rule of thumb is that tipping isn’t required within this industry so don’t feel obliged to open up your wallet.
If you don’t tip, no one is likely to care!
